A look at USC’s new baseball coach, Mark Kingston

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COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) — According to numerous sources, South Carolina will hire South Florida head baseball coach Mark Kingston to fill the vacant role with the Gamecocks.

The contract is expected to be finalized tomorrow morning by the University of South Carolina Board of Trustees.

USF currently pays Kingston around $140,000 per season base salary, but USC is expected to pay much more to the 9th-year head coach.

The news comes just three weeks after the somewhat unexpected resignation of former head coach Chad Holbrook, who spent five seasons coaching the Gamecocks after serving as an assistant under former baseball coach and current athletics director Ray Tanner.

Holbrook missed the postseason twice in his final three years, which prompted his resignation in early June.

Now Kingston inherits a program that must replace most of its pitching staff, but returns most of its core defense.

The former USF coach is considered to be one of the best up-and-coming coaches in the business, after leading the Bulls to two NCAA Tournament appearances in three seasons.

He began his coaching career at Illinois State, where he spent five seasons, winning the Missouri Valley Conference twice.

Kingston has averaged 34 wins per season at the Division I level since 2010.

Though his win totals are very impressive, fans don’t seem to be impressed with the hire.

South Carolina’s fan base showed strong support of hiring Florida’s head coach Kevin O’Sullivan, who just won his first College World Series title with the Gators this week.

But according to two sources inside the Gator baseball program, O’Sullivan, though displeased at times with Florida’s fan support, has no desire to leave Florida. This year, he’ll receive a nice salary boost after his incentives kick in for winning the National Championship, and Florida plans to spend $100 million on facility upgrades for its baseball team.

Another candidate seen with Ray Tanner recently was former USC assistant and Liberty head coach Jim Toman, but it’s unclear how seriously Tanner considered offering the job to Toman after he abruptly resigned from Liberty in 2016.

Kingston is expected to be introduced at USC next week.